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Join our campaign to help save lives
A LOCAL newspaper is often touted as the most trusted source of news and advertising.
We report the issues that most interest and affect you, challenging injustices and acting as a voice for the community.
By taking part in Local Newspaper Week, publications raise awareness of the strengths of the medium among readers, advertisers and the wider media industry.
And as we reach the half-way point in the 2008 event, this year themed as Campaigning for your Community, we aim to showcase and explore the work we undertake to make the area in which we live and work a better one.
Just a few weeks ago, our sister paper the Eastwood and Kimberley Advertiser printed the front page exclusive of a club steward who saved the life of a customer after he suffered a massive heart attack.
Frank Woods' heart had stopped and he had literally died on the dance floor of the Kimberley Miners Welfare until John Harvey used the defibrillator to bring him back to life. Frank is now recovering at home after hospital treatment.
With this in mind, and with suggestions that just a handful of locations in each town keep a defibrillator to hand, we have decided to launch a campaign for more local shops and leisure venues to possess a defibrillator for just such an emergency.
As dramatic as the action can be, when a heart stops, defibrillation, or shock, can be the only way to save someone's life. Research has shown that, for every minute that passes, the chance of survival decreases by 14 per cent.
But, if a patient is treated immediately or soon after a cardiac arrest, the survival rate is boosted by 60 per cent.
In backing our campaign, John Harvey said: "Big stores should have one and someone on each shift capable of using it. They are a very good thing - Frank wouldn't be here without ours."
An automated external defibrillator (AED) is a type of defibrillator that detects the electrical activity in the heart and gives automated instructions to the rescuer on what to do.
Training on the life saving equipment is given every six months and regular checks must be made to ensure it is in full working order, in the case of an emergency.
In the weeks to come, we will be bringing you information on just how essential defibrillators can be and a first-hand review of the training necessary to be able to carry out potentially life-saving first aid, and our efforts to bring more defibrillators into the community.
How you can help
Defibrillators can be an essential life-saving tool, when necessary.
More than 6,000 machines have been placed in the community nationwide since they were first donated by the British Heart Foundation 12 years ago to complement the work of ambulance services.
But more can be done if you too would like to be prepared in the event of an emergency, and fund a defibrillator for where you live, work and play.
Grants are available to pay for part of the cost but provision must be made by the applicant for ongoing maintenance.
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Weather for Ilkeston
Saturday 04 February 2012
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